Election Day is coming up quickly. Rock Valley College community, are you registered to vote? The Rock Valley “Voting Geniuses” along with four faculty members have been actively advocating for higher student voter turnout.
They organized the National Voter Registration Day event on campus. They have conduct classroom visits to give information about the importance of voting. Not only in this presidential election, but every election in the state of Illinois.
Dr. Mathew Oakes is one of the faculty members who organizes these events. He says the number of eligible Gen Z voters is 41 million. That’s 8 million more than the last election.
“Oftentimes we hear people saying that they think their vote doesn’t matter, but it absolutely does. There was a recent election in Chicago for the mayor of Chicago and the data demonstrated that it was the Gen-Z youth vote that determined the outcome of that election,” Oakes says.
Alyssa Lerch, a first year student at Rock Valley, says her voting registration was short and easy. “I just did it online. Then they mailed me my registration card…it was like 10 minutes or less to complete the process”.
Online registration ends October 20th. However, there is another option students may not know about. “On election day, you would go to your polling place and you would register and vote at the same time,” says Dr. Oakes.
By the time voting comes around, students have a few choices. You can vote the day-of. This would require you to go to your polling place, wait in a small line, answer a few questions, fill out your ballot, get your sticker, and head on out.
You can also vote early. In fact, Rock Valley will host an early voting site on campus. The Rockford Board of Elections will be set up in the Jacobs Center during the last two weeks of October. This is only for people who live in the City of Rockford.
Voting by mail is another option. You have to request a mail-in ballot by October 31st. The ballot will be exactly the same as the in-person one. You just have to fill it out, stamp it, and send it back or drop it off.
RVC student and “Voting Genius”, Lily Baldwin feels empowered by casting her ballot. “I do enjoy taking part in civic action, so I am excited to vote in this election”.
Many student voters are afraid of not making the right decision. Lerch feels like all the information she has heard has been biased.
“It is hard to get a good takeaway, I feel educated enough, but don’t know if other students are.”
Dr. Oakes encourages students to use free resources to learn more about this election such as the candidate’s website or nonpartisan news websites. Oakes recommends a website called “guides.vote”. “They have all of the sort of pressing issues that are being discussed and they have these very brief overviews of their positions including some short quotes.”
Election day is November 5th. For more information about polling places, registration status, and voting options, visit the Rockford Board of Elections online, “voterockfordil.gov”. If you live outside of the City of Rockford, contact your county clerk’s office.
